Fullerton College president urges careful design of dual enrollment programs

Cynthia Olivo, president of Fullerton College, urged local districts and colleges to treat dual enrollment as a strategic effort tied to student supports and data, not an "ad'hoc" activity, during a Future Talks podcast interview.

"We could, in South Texas, correlate the participation of dual enrollment to actually changing the economic conditions of the community there," Olivo said, citing experience with a mature program that tracked student success outcomes. She said those results persuaded her that dual enrollment can connect K'12 students to sustainable, living'wage careers.

But Olivo warned that districts must avoid simply offering dual enrollment without aligning pedagogy and instruction. "You have to look at data ... and ensure that you have instructors who are aligned," she said, and stressed that course design should both match K'12 student needs and preserve the written outcomes in the college curriculum.

Olivo recommended institutional practices change to support dual enrollment, including professional development for instructors, careful candidate screening for experience mentoring the student population, and systems to track outcomes. She framed dual enrollment as an opportunity to "change our institutional practices as well as our individual practices as professional educators" to help students succeed.

Olivo also noted the partnership potential with local high'school districts (mentioned by the host in relation to Anaheim Union High School District) as part of a regional approach to create clear pathways into college credentials and careers.